A founder called me last year. He had three weeks to save his company.

Healthcare business in Cameroon. Strong operator. Real demand for his services. But classic problem: growing too fast, undercapitalised, and burning through working capital faster than the bank could keep up.

The local bank had pulled the line. Suppliers were tightening terms. Payroll was three weeks away.
When founders call in that state, they usually want a miracle. What they actually need is a structure.

Here’s what we did:

1. Week 1 — Diagnosis. We rebuilt the financial model from scratch. Not the version pitched to investors. The honest one. We separated the operating business (healthy, growing) from the working capital crisis (acute, but solvable).
2. Week 2 — Structuring. Equity, not debt. Phased, not lump sum. Tied to milestones, not vibes. We sized phase one at €1M — enough to stabilise, not so much that we’d over-dilute the founder before the business proved itself.
3. Week 3 — Capital. We closed €1M from private investors who understood African healthcare. Not pity capital. Real, term-sheeted, governance-attached growth equity.

The business is still trading. Still growing. Still serving patients.

What I learned (again):

• Most African founders don’t fail because of bad business models. They fail because they raise the wrong instrument at the wrong time.
• A clean financial model is worth more than a slick deck.
• The difference between dead and alive is often a single, well-structured round — closed by people who understand what they’re looking at.

If you’re a founder feeling that “three-week” pressure right now — message me. There’s almost always a structure. The question is whether you find it before the pressure forces you into the wrong one.